As the streetlights turn on all throughout the neighborhood, Kevin arrives at his home as the sun sets. He parks his motorcycle inside the garage and sits for a bit, thinking about all that happened. He gathers his things and walks up to the door leading inside. He pauses, unsure of what he will come into. He remembers Stewart’s warning about not trusting anybody, but he thought to himself, how could he not trust his own family? If the vision or memory from his past was real, then he’s been lied to. He lets out a big sigh. He opens the door leading into the kitchen; once he closes the door behind him, he hears the sound of rustling as his mother and younger brother Brandon rush into the kitchen to see who is there. When they see Kevin, his mother rushes over to hug him with tears rolling down her eyes. Kevin holds her tight, returning the gesture.

“Kevin! Oh, thank God you’re safe. We were so worried.”

“We heard on the news about the attack at your school. Was it scary? Did it attack you?” Brandon yells out in excitement.

“Brandon!” Snaps the mother as she turns around and faces her son with a glare all children know and fear most.

Kevin didn’t want them to think he was there so he began to act ignorant to what happened earlier in front of his little brother.

“Wait, attack? Is that what that was about?” Kevin asks.

“You mean you weren’t there? Lame.” Brandon calls out.

Brandon takes out his phone and shows him and his Mother the clip from the video app “Youview,” where a student at Kevin’s school happened to record the moment where Stewart accidentally released an energy wave in the hallway. The video then stops as the blast reaches the person causing the phone to short out.

“We tried to reach you, but your phone went straight to voice mail. We couldn’t even call your friends.” Said his Mother.

“That’s right, My phone.” Kevin thought to himself. He took his phone out and turned it on. The phone’s screen was intact, but like a magnet to an electronic device, the home page image was mixed-matched and jumbled, couldn’t make out what was on the phone.

I guess Stewart’s powers messed with all cellular devices. Kevin thought to himself.

“Wow, guess I was nearby; it looks like my phone took the impact of that blast,” Kevin says as he shows his Mother and Brother the damage to his phone.

“Don’t worry, you can go out and get a new one tomorrow; I’m just glad you’re home.”

“Yea, me too,” Kevin replies as he leaves the kitchen and makes his way through the living room, heading to the stairs leading to his bedroom. His mother follows.

“Are you hungry?” She asks. “I have dinner ready.”

Kevin stops at the base of the staircase; he looks back at his mother with a tired smile.

It’s been a long day; I’m just gonna crash in my room. Kevin replies.

“Of course, sweetie. His mother softly replies. But before you do, can you let your father know dinner is ready?” He’s in his office; you should probably tell him you’re here.

Kevin sighed heavily as he was hoping she wouldn’t ask him that. Not that he hates his father, they just don’t see eye to eye sometimes. Often times they butt heads on things, and Kevin tries to avoid it, but for his mom, he decides to do it.

“Yeah, I’ll go tell him.” He answers back.

She smiles back and returns to the Kitchen to set up dinner for the rest of the family. Kevin rolls his eyes as he turns and heads in the other direction, which leads to his father’s office. He arrives at double doors with carved wooden trimming as the doors' frame. He raises his hand about to knock on the door but pauses as he begins to feel nervous about disturbing his Father when he is in his office. He honestly didn’t want to do it, but he told his mom he would.

“Here we go,” Kevin says to himself. He knocks on the door; it is quiet at first. He knocks again, and still no reply. Kevin grabs the knob and slowly opens the door. He pokes his head into the room. Inside, the room was filled with books, almost like a small library. At the end of the room was his father at his desk, deep into his work as he was writing something in his notebook.

“Dad?” Kevin calls him from the door.

Kevin’s Father remains silent and diligently working on his notes; he clearly wasn’t paying attention to anything around him. Kevin loudly clears his throat, then gets his father to stop what he was doing to look up at who was making that noise.

“Hey, dinner is ready.” Says Kevin.

“You’re home late. Where were you?” His father asks sternly.

“Seriously?! You didn’t hear what happened?” Kevin replies.

“I’ve been busy.” the father replies sharply as he continues to write in his notebook.

Kevin looks away from his father, annoyed with his attitude.

“It’s not like you care, but a Jin half-breed happened to be at the school,” Kevin stated.

Hearing that, the father stops writing and looks up at Kevin, who wasn’t paying attention as he was still looking away, lost in thought.

“There was a half-breed in the school?” His Father asks.

“I mean, it was an accident. He didn’t mean to cause that explosion. And those damn Advant Guards came on him like he was some kind of wild animal.” Kevin states.

“Kevin, they were doing their job. A half-breed is considered unstable; you know that. They can end up hurting others in their wake.”

“But we were surrounded; he was only defending himself.”

Kevin’s Father raised an eyebrow when he heard the word “we.”

“What do you mean “we”? Were you with him?”

Kevin snapped out of his train of thought when he realized he may have exposed his whereabouts. He remains silent, trying to figure out how to mislead his father from the subject. His Father closes his notebook and rises from his seat.

“Kevin, answer me. Were you involved?” His Father replies, raising his voice.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Kevin was speechless he couldn’t think of anything, and it wasn’t helping as his father steps away from his desk and towards him.

Well? His Father continues to push.

Kevin had no choice, he had to push back hoping that maybe he can catch his father off guard deterring him from asking anymore questions.

“No, ok! Get off my back, old man!” Kevin snaps back, raising his voice at this Father.

The Father responds as he steps back a little at Kevin’s loud reply.

“Look, I came to tell you dinner is ready. I did my part, so I’m outta here.”

Kevin quickly leaves the room, slamming the door behind him. His Father calms down relived that the little outburst was all he did. H returns to his desk and sits down trying to place what just happened but couldn’t understand why Kevin acted that way. He opens his notebook where he left off. On the page, it reads “Kevin’s Biological Progress Log” around it were other notes stating his latest behaviors, height, weight, and vitals from yesterday.

Kevin opens the door to his room. His room was low-lit. Tired, he doesn’t bother to turn the lights on. He closes the door behind him.

“Home sweet home.” He sarcastically says as he takes off his jacket and places it on his chair. He sits at the end of the bed and takes off his shirt, revealing his moderately well-built body. He brushes back his hair, relieved that he was able to avoid having to argue with his Father. He thinks about Stewart wondering what the Advant Guard was doing to him. He also thought about that guy that knew who his Father was. The way he looked at Kevin with that smile brought chills down his spine.

“Am I really a half breed? I don’t feel like it. This doesn’t make sense.”

Kevin lays back in his bed with his hands behind his head. He stares blankly at the ceiling, lost in thought about everything.

“Damn, well, I guess it all starts here.”

***

Deep in the forest of the Taisen Tribe, a Zonian native, Toby, son of the Taisen chief, has been looking for his fiancé since the afternoon. The day is almost coming to an end as the sun begins to set, and Toby begins to worry.

“Lua! He shouts. Where are you?

As he continues to call for his fiancé, Toby unknowingly is being followed from a distance. Someone was hiding in the bushes.

Come on, Lua; we need to head back to the village. The festival will be starting soon.

The one hiding from Toby decided to reveal themselves, and the person walked out from the bushes and shrubs. The sound of rustling leaves causes Toby’s Elfin-like ears to twitch as they pick up on the sound coming towards them. A beautiful young Zonian woman, nineteen years of age, comes out from her hiding place and walks up to Toby. At first, Toby was startled by her approach till he recognized it was his fiancé Lua.

There you are. Toby says, relieved.

He was thrilled to find his beloved; however, something about her seemed different. She wasn’t the bubbly self she normally was. As she stood before him, her eyes were glazed and lifeless, her skin pale upon any normal person’s complexion. She had no expression at first, but then she gently smiled back at her beloved. Despite all that, Toby was happy to see her and embraced her. She, in turn, returned the gesture as she buried her face in her lover’s chest.

Lua, where were you? He asks. You’ve been gone for hours; I was worried.

Lua remains silent as she gently rests her head on his chest.

As Toby continues to hold his love, he can’t help but notice how cold she feels in his arms. In fact, her body felt cold against his. On top of that, the back of her clothes were wet.

Darling, aren’t you cold? Toby asks. You feel cold to the touch, and your blouse is soaked. Did you fall in the lake?

Toby lifted his hand to see why it was wet. His face turns pale when he sees his hand covered in blood.

Lua, you’re bleeding!! Toby begins to panic.

He looks at her back to see the back of her blouse soaked in blood. He takes a look at the front of her to see that blood was starting to pool through her shirt, soaking the front part of her blouse. He looks at his shirt to see that her blood has also stained it.

My love. Lua speaks softly.

Toby looks at his beloved to see her still smiling as she gets closer to him. With her hand she gently caresses him from his face, down to his chest. She placed her hand where his heart was. Unsure of what was going on and why she was acting this way, Toby froze in place, waiting to hear what she was going to say. She leans forward to whisper in his ear.

The one you call Lua no longer exists. She gently whispers.

Toby’s mouth drops in fear as he hears those words. Sweat rolls down his face in panic as he wasn’t sure what she meant.

What are you-

Before Toby can finish his sentence, something sharp and painful pierces through his chest. The pain was excruciating; every breath made it harder to inhale. He could feel fluid begin to fill inside him, he coughed, and blood began to come out of his mouth as blood was filling his lungs. He looks at his beloved, who looks at him with an evil grin and cold blood lust eyes. He looks down at his chest and sees that Lua’s hand has become a sharp blade that has pierced through his chest and out his back. His eyes widen as this isn’t his Lua but an imposter. She pulls the blade out from Toby’s chest, more blood began to pour out from his body. He quickly grows faint as the blood loss begins to take his life. With her small size, Lua was able to catch Toby and, with ease, lowered him to the ground.

It’s alright, my love. She gently speaks to him.

Too weak to speak, all Toby can do is watch as something emerges from Lua’s back. A black slime-like creature stretches out and looks at Toby. From the front of the black gooey creature, a white mask comes out with tribal-like markings debossed onto the mask, tentacle-like hair drapes over the mask; then eyes emerge from the mask. They were closed at first but then they open revealing its piercing blood lust stare as it looks at Toby. More creatures like the one in Lua rise from the ground, although their masks had no tribal markings as they were the underlings to their alpha leader that inhabited Lua. The creatures all looked at Toby like hyenas, ready to consume their prey.

This body can no longer sustain me. Both the creature and Lua said simultaneously, with the creature communicating through the tribal patterns on its mask. I sense your strength, I must have your body.

Without a moment’s hesitation, the creature jumps from Lua’s body and enters Toby’s through the wound in his chest. Too weak to fight back, all Toby could do was holler in pain as he could feel the creature filling up inside him. Every cell and fiber of his body moved and twitched as he began to lose control, and even his very consciousness was fading till everything went black. Toby then becomes silent; his body stops twitching; Toby no longer exists; with the alpha creature in complete control of Toby’s body, there on the ground beside him was a dried-up husk of Lua’s body. Toby begins to move once more; he stands up, moves his hands and fingers, stretches, and twists his body as though he was trying on a new suit.

Assimilation is complete. Toby says he is pleased with his choice.

He then touches the back of his jaw at it is now a commlink, thanks to the help of the Creatures ability.

Master, Alpha #078 reporting in. I have taken control of the chief’s son.

Good work, responds the master through the commlink. Commence the second objective as planned.

Yes, my master. Toby responds.

Toby looks at his underlings as they look back at him, waiting for their orders.

The second objective will now commence, destination: the Taisen village. Toby orders his followers.

The creatures nod in response and slink back into the ground as though it was water. Using the memories of the one he inhabited, he returns to the village, leaving the husk of Lua’s body behind. Night has arrived, and the Taisen village celebrates a prosperous first harvest of the year. There was food made from the harvest, music that filled the air, and dancing as the villagers performed around the bonfire. Laughter and joy echoed throughout the forest; everyone was having a great time. A young couple, Callon and Alora, were sitting on a bench behind a local hut away from the celebration as they wanted to spend time together. They cuddled and made out but unknown to them, Callon’s little sister Lea waited patiently from under the bench for the right moment.

Alone, at last, Callon says to his girlfriend.

Alora playfully giggles, as she knows they are not of age, but seeing adults do it, she wants to experience what it is like.

Won’t someone see us? She asks.

Don’t worry; it’s just you and me.

Callon then leans forward, closes his eyes, and puckers as he inches closer to Alora to kiss her. Alora does the same; before the two can make contact, Lea makes her move by grabbing Alora’s leg. Alora jumps up in fright. She looks down to see someone has a hold of her leg. She makes a shrill that causes Callon to open his eyes to see what is happening. He looks down to see a small hand holding Alora’s leg.